


A New Past - Book 2 of the Back to Snape series

by TheLoneRebels



Series: Back to Snape [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: A new Patronus for Severus, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Hermione meets Young Severus Snape, How to become a Double Agent Spy, When a time-turner isn't a time-turner, sevmione - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:53:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26132980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLoneRebels/pseuds/TheLoneRebels
Summary: Hermione has gone back in time to stop the second rise of Voldemort, but she ended up years further than she intended and ends up in the time of the evil Wizard's first rule. Severus has just become a Death Eater even though he knows his new Lord is anything but a good person, because it was expected due to his hushed family connection to the Malfoys. So when a beautiful girl with a mission to stop Voldemort literally falls into his arms, what can he do but help her?M for now. Rating will go up when the lemons show up! :P
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Severus Snape, Lucius Malfoy/Narcissa Black Malfoy
Series: Back to Snape [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2090847
Comments: 51
Kudos: 71





	1. An Offer Of Sanctuary

**Hello there!**

**Thank you all soooooo much for checking out my story! If you like it, it's very inspiring to me if you let me know in some way, and thank you in advance for every kudos, sub, or nice review; they're my own version of caffeine. :D :D :D :D :D**

**For those who really wish I would write a one shot of their idea or would just really like to see a certain story bump up to the top of my rotation, check out the pinned post on my Facebook page, TheLoneRebel's Stories, for info. You can also find my updating schedule there and blurbs from some of my chapters. :D**

* * *

**Disclaimer: I don't own any Harry Potter characters and any OC's that resemble real people are entirely coincidental.**

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**A/N: There is a list of characters and their descriptions at the end of the first chapter of the first book for the curious.**

**A/N 2: I'll try to explain things just enough so that reading the first book isn't entirely necessary, but not so much that the people who did read it don't get annoyed with all of the recaps. :D**

* * *

**  
** **A New Past**

**Book 2 of the Back to Snape series**

**An Offer Of Sanctuary:**

_Mon, Dec 18, 1977._

Severus arrived at the main gates of Hogwarts with a deliberately massive crack of Apparition to help vent his frustration, anger, and guilt. In his arms, his mother moaned, almost waking. She was frail and broken and almost no burden at all considering that he wasn't exactly buff (understatement) and she was 5'7", which was so wrong.

So very, very wrong.

When he'd left his vile, abusive father in the not so tender hands of Lord Voldemort, he'd had a moment of doubt that maybe he'd gone too far in his quest for justice and revenge, but now, as he shifted his much too light mother higher in his arms so he could shake his wand out of his sleeve, his doubt evaporated. _Fucking bastard deserves every ounce of pain my new Lord cares to give him,_ he snarled to himself. 

Touching his new Blackwood wand to the closed gate, Severus muttered, _Alohomora._ And then again when nothing happened. Still nothing. The gates didn’t swing open with a subtle creak the way they should have. Didn’t let him in like every other time he’d snuck up to them after a trip to Hogsmeade in the dead of night when he should have been sleeping to sell his potions for food money for his mother. (Food money she clearly didn’t get to spend much on herself.)

Glaring at the gates that were being too stubborn for their own good, he was very tempted to just blast them off their hinges, but reason told him that angering Dumbledore for destruction of property at the moment wasn’t the best idea; not when he was about to beg sanctuary for himself and his badly injured mother.

So he closed his eyes and just felt the magic around him for a few moments.

The anti-Apparition ward that surrounded the grounds was readily apparent like a glare of red in his face. Under that was the anti-Muggle charm that kept the school invisible to eyes that did not need to see anything more than a disinteresting and crumbling pile of rocks. And below that was a new, and very complicated anti-trespassing charm that he’d never felt before; which made sense, considering it was the holidays and after midnight. He was fairly confident that he could unravel it, given enough time and patience, but he didn’t have much of either at the moment.

Severus was exhausted after a long day of shopping with a very enthusiastic Lucius, meeting Lord Voldemort for the first time and subsequently joining him (his arm still ached from the Dark Mark), and then fulfilling his side of their bargain by erasing everyone’s memories about who he truly was (a Half-blood Prince who’s mother’s sister was married to Abraxas Malfoy). And his mother needed professional medical care as soon as possible. He’d given her what potions he had that he thought would help, but Madam Pomfrey would be much better suited to ensuring a full recovery from a fall down a very steep set of stairs that had resulted in several life threatening injuries.

Which left him with summoning someone to come open the gates.

Normally, he’d pick Hagrid, having a good relationship with the half giant, but he doubted that the groundskeeper could undo the very serious anti-trespassing ward: Hagrid was sweet and fun, but powerful, he was not. Which left him with the vaunted Headmaster, who had undoubtedly been the one to set the ward in the first place; Dumbledore liked to pretend he was just an assuming old wizard with the personality of everyone's favourite grandfather, but he really wasn’t. Saying he was powerful was like saying that the sun was merely warm.

_Now, the only question is how?_

_Elehootay isn’t here yet, or she’d already be circling overhead, so that’s out. I could try and make enough noise to wake up the old wizard and hope he comes out to investigate. Or… I could send him my Patronus._

As his mother’s weight, frail though it was, started to make itself known to arms unused to holding up another body ( _And doesn’t that say something for the pathetic state of my love life?_ ), Severus made the only decision he knew that was guaranteed of success.

He went for the Patronus.

The only problem with that was that he was in anything but a pleasant mood, so it took some work to summon something to mind happy enough to make the beyond-advanced-level spell work.

Memories of Lily were out, thanks to her recent engagement to James Potter; even thinking about her for a moment hurt too much to bear, so he quickly pushed her image aside.

He couldn’t make himself summon a happy memory with his mother, either, considering that she was currently unconscious in his arms.

The only other bright point in his life was his friendship with Lucius, and even that was up in the air now that he’d been forced to alter the younger Malfoy’s memories of him so that they were no longer cousins; he had no idea how Lucius would react to him now with the familial connection removed. And thus, Lucius wasn’t a good option either.

With no happy memories available to draw on, Severus tried for a happy dream, which he’d been told by one of the string of forgettable Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers was also a viable option, but he had yet to explore that option for obvious reasons. (It hadn’t been necessary.)

Not wanting to recall any of the daydreams he’d had about himself and Lily, he made up a new one on the spot.

A dream where he showed up at Lucius’ and Cissa’s wedding next week with a beautiful, smart, and powerful witch on his arm. _And she won’t look anything like Lily. Maybe curly hair instead of straight. Not red. Slender and fit instead of curvy and soft. And definitely NOT green eyes. A nice shade of brown would be interesting, I think. Different, anyhow. And she’ll carry herself like royalty without even trying._

The Wizarding world’s elite would gawk at him in a good way for once as every person who’d ever said or thought that he was too ugly and/or awkward to win a girl would eat crow for their dinner. _Maybe even literally,_ he thought with a smirk. _I’m sure I could work up a spell to pull that off._

As the mental image of nearly everyone’s dinners (Lucius’ family and his beautiful imaginary date’s were exempt, of course) turned into crow pie that burst in their faces played through his mind on repeat, Severus moved the arm behind his mother’s back into as sweeping of a circle as possible and firmly said, “Expecto Patronum!”

A silvery blue light shot out of the end of his powerful wand and formed into a… Pegasus?

_Well, that’s new. I guess I really am over my obsession with Lily if it’s not a doe anymore._

_Fucking yay._

The shimmering winged horse snorted wisps of incandescent smoke at him and pawed the ground impatiently.

_Right. Instructions._

“Go find Headmaster Dumbledore and bring him back here! Quickly!”

The Pegasus snorted again in agreement and then reared up on its hind legs as he spread his wings wide. And then with a leap, the magical horse was flying like a shot of lightning though gates and towards the castle up the hill.

_A Pegasus. I like it. I bet he’s a black one, too, like Eclipse. That’s so much more me than a wimpy doe._

_Merlin, why did I cling to Lily for so long after she fell for Potter? It’s not like I was ever going to win her away from him. He’s got everything I don’t; money, looks, status. I’m just a no-one and I’ll always be a no-one._

_Well, a no-one who’s now indentured for life to possibly the most powerful and evil wizard on the planet, that is._

_I’m not entirely sure that’s an improvement._

Exhausted with his even his own thoughts, Severus shifted his mother again as his arms were definitely starting to ache (but he couldn’t make himself let her go to float her instead) and leaned forward a bit to rest his forehead against one of the bars of the locked gate. Heaving a sigh, he closed his eyes and just shut down for a minute until Dumbledore decided to show up.

* * *

"The attack on the Potter household last night has the Minister very concerned," Albus Dumbledore said to his younger brother's fiery head, who had sparks crawling up and down the wiry locks of his hair like friendly fireflies. "The Dark Lord's attacks are escalating." 

Via the fireplace floo in the modest sitting room a floor above the Headmaster's office, Alberforth gave his brother-who'd-spent-the-better-part-of-century-playing-the-hero a knowing look. "Why do I get the feeling you're about to make this your problem to deal with?"

Albus twinkled at his brother, blue eyes crinkling even deeper at the corners. "Because I am. The Aurors are overwhelmed and I think it's time for those of us who can to join the fight."

Alberforth sighed. "And you expect me to help you."

"Of course, Ab, I can't do this on my own," Albus said sincerely as he leaned forward in the iridescent green dragonhide armchair that had been in the family for generations.

The head in the fire rolled his coal-like eyes. "Finally. He admits that he's not Merlin or God."

"Very funny," Albus grouched good-naturedly.

"I thought so."

Albus smiled indulgently. "You always did fancy yourself as the smarter one."

"And I still do," Alberforth replied smugly. 

"Hah."

"Tosser."

"Cocky git."

"Pigheaded, suicidal moron."

"So you'll help me then?" Albus grinned.

"I can't let you steal all the thunder, can I? So, yes, I'll help you be the hero again," Alberforth grumbled. 

"Excellent." Albus put on a serious face, losing the grin. "We should start putting a team together tomo..."

The words died in his throat and his eyes widened in surprise as a shimmering Pegasus Patronus burst through the stone wall of his tower and galloped right up to Albus. He snorted and tossed his head, then pawed at the floor, whinnying urgently before looking back the way he'd come from.

"Whose Patronus is that!" Alberforth blurted.

Albus tilted his head as he studied the impatient Pegasus stallion made of pure magic. "I don't know. But whoever it belongs to is quite powerful, has the heart of a warrior, and is in trouble, apparently."

"You'd better go with it then."

"Yes," Albus replied as he rose to his feet. "I'll floo you back later. Or tomorrow."

"Fine. Good night, Albie."

"Night, Ab."

The Pegasus snorted wisps of blue flames at him for taking too long and then trotted through furniture and over to the window that overlooked the gates of Hogwarts. 

Amused and curious, Albus followed, opening the frosted glass with a casual wave of his hand. He looked out, but from his vantage point, saw nothing amiss.

"You'll have to explain better than that, horse. It would be helpful if you could talk."

Albus blinked once as an idea formed at his own words. _Hunh. I'll have to work on that one._

The Patronus, taking him seriously, leapt out the window and flew to the gates far below in a near instant. Then he stood in front of them and neighed up at Albus loud enough to wake the dead.

"That'll do, horse," he said with a snort of amusement. Turning on the spot, Albus Apparated down to the gates.

Where he found one of the most promising and misunderstood Seventh Year students to ever grace the halls of Hogwarts leaning against it. And in his arms was a frightfully pale and familiar woman. _Oh dear._

With a muttered word and a complicated swirl of his wand, Albus deactivated the anti-trespassing ward and then opened the gates as he exclaimed, "Severus! Whatever has happened?!"

The Pegasus pranced over to the boy and nuzzled his shoulder and then tossed his head proudly before disappearing after Severus whispered, "Thank you." Then the boy looked at him with black eyes that were bleak and weary far beyond his years as he walked through the gates that closed behind him. "It's my Mum. She fell down the cellar stairs and needs more help than my pathetic efforts can provide."

Albus almost flinched at the self-hatred in the teenager's tone. "I doubt there was anything pathetic about it. And yes, of course we'll help her." 

Sensing that Severus would never make the walk up the hill, Albus touched his arm and Apparated all of them into the empty hospital wing. 

The boy reeled before catching himself. "Thank you," he said, shooting Albus a wan smile before gratefully placing Eileen Prince on a bed. (Yes, he remembered his former student, even if she barely resembled her bubbly and much healthier teenage self.)

Albus sent his Phoenix Patronus to wake up Madam Pomfrey and then watched with concerned eyes as Severus brushed a wisp of long and unwashed black hair off his mother's gaunt face with a careful hand that trembled. _There's more going on here than just a fall down some stairs. She looks half starved and those bruises on her face are at least a day or two old. Why would he bring her here when his first instinct should have been to take her to St. Mungo's? And where is his father in all this?_

_Not somewhere good, I bet._

_I think I'm starting to understand why his first instinct is always to fight._

"Severus," he said gently. The very tall and thin boy still flinched before turning around, his face set in a defensive mask. Albus rushed to reassure him. "I don't know what is happening in your home life, and it's not my place to ask, but if you and your mother want to stay here for the holidays, you are more than welcome."

The young wizard stared at him for a full half minute with exhaustion bruised eyes like bottomless pits of despair before he nodded once. Dignity radiated from his determinedly squared shoulders even as he swayed on his feet. "We would greatly appreciate that. Thank you."

Albus' chest literally hurt for the boy who he was finally starting to understand. _I don't know what all you've endured, but I'm sorry I didn't see that you needed help sooner._


	2. An Exchange of Secrets

**An Exchange of Secrets:**

_I swear I’ll do whatever I can to make things better._

Severus read the continued thought in Dumbledore’s unguarded, thankfully not twinkling with false humour for once, pale blue eyes, and couldn’t decide whether to scoff loudly or to fall to his knees and hug the old man around the waist in gratitude.

Since the first would be the epitome of ill manners after being granted sanctuary, and the second would be downright embarrassing to both of them, Severus chose something in between, exposing his Legilimency gift (curse) in the process. But he thought it worth the risk, considering the fact that Dumbledore had known who his mother was and thus who he was, and Severus doubted very much that he could make the powerful wizard forget that fact.

Which meant that if he was going to survive in his role as Voldemort’s new potion making spy (and who knows what else), he’d have to confide in Dumbledore and make him understand that he’d only made the best of a wretched and unavoidable situation.

“As a busy wizard with hundreds of more important and better bred students needing coddling, I understand how it’s possible for you to have somehow missed the fact that my life royally sucked rotten dragon eggs,” he started with, only barely keeping his tone on the nicer side of scathing before he managed to soften it. “So I’m not going to hold that against you. If you truly desire to make things better, than I’ll be very grateful for your help.”

Dumbledore blinked twice and Severus could practically see the Occlumency shields shutter his eyes, cutting off Severus’ free pass to the Headmaster’s thoughts. _An acceptable loss if he can help me the way I suspect he can._

“You’re a natural Legilimens.” It wasn’t a question.

Severus answered as if it were anyway. “Yes. Always have been. A pain in the arse, more often than not, to be honest,” he said with a shrug.

Dumbledore’s mouth twitched upward on one side. “Yes, I can imagine. Met another natural once. She could hear everyone’s thoughts that were within a certain vicinity of her all at once. Gave her dreadful headaches. Is yours like that as well?”

Severus shook his head, glancing down at his mother in the process just to double check that she was still resting easily. “No. Not as bad as that. If I can see the eyes, though, most peoples’ thoughts are fair game.”

“And thus a strategical advantage in the right situation,” Dumbledore said, sounding nearly excited. His eyes even started to twinkle, much to Severus’ disgust.

Madame Pomfrey chose that moment to bustle in to the hospital wing, dressed in a night robe and slippers with only wisps of her dark blonde hair peeking out from under a cap. The recent (does two years ago count?) graduate of St. Mungo’s’ long and arduous eight year Healer apprenticeship program immediately tutted with caring alarm at her patient as soon as she spotted her. “Oh dear! Whatever happened to her?!”

 _What hasn't happened to her would probably be easier to answer,_ Severus thought bitterly.

"Tumbled down the cellar stairs when I was gone from home," though, was the only truthful-enough answer he was willing to give - the misery of their home life was nobody's burden to bear but his own now. 

"Goodness. The poor thing." The Mediwitch hurried over to the opposite side of Eileen Snape’s cot from where Severus and Dumbledore were standing and immediately pulled her wand out of a pocket to cast a bevy of diagnostic spells. One of them, Severus had never seen before. He memorized it to look into later. 

He studied the resulting runes that he did know as they flashed in the air in varying shades of red, orange, yellow, and green. The good news was that the potions he'd given her had already healed some of the most life-threatening damage. The bad news was that it was still glaringly apparent that his mother had been sorely abused for years based on the sheer number of healed fractures to her bones the yellow runes helpfully pointed out.

Pomfrey shot him a look filled with alarm, her thought of, _Sweet Circe! This woman has more injuries than a professional quidditch player!_ popping into his head. 

She and Dumbledore then exchanged one of those grown up looks that said they'd be talking in private later. 

_Great. Another person I'm going to have to Obliviate._

_But not till Mum is healed or it'll just be an exercise in futility._

In hopes of distracting Pomfrey from any awkward questions that might be brewing in her mind, Severus said, "l already gave her whatever potions I had that I thought might help. Mum was only minutes away from taking her last breath when I found her." 

She gave him a nod of acknowledgment as she _Accioed_ half a dozen more potions from a nearby shelving unit. As the vials and bottles obediently floated over and settled on a bedside table, Pomfrey glanced at him and then started to carefully poor the healing potions down his mother's throat. "You did well, Severus. She's in stable condition already, thanks to your talent with potions and your dedicated quest for knowledge. I know you've already picked a different career path, but if you ever change your mind, I still think you'd make a fine Healer. You've always had an innate knack for diagnosing my patients that most Mediwizards would love to possess." 

The teenager shrugged bashfully, pale skin heating slightly at the praise. "I'm just observant, that's all." _And sometimes have the advantage of hearing the thoughts of a patient who's too embarrassed to say what actually happened to them._

But he wasn't willing to divulge that last part. At least not to Madam Pomfrey. The look Dumbledore gave him made Severus think that the canny old wizard had already figured that out on his own, though. 

Pomfrey looked him up and down with a pointed glance before returning her attention to his mother. "You're not the only one who can use their eyes here, young Mr. Snape. When was the last time you ate? And how much magic have you been using lately? You're pale as a ghost and barely staying on your feet."

He'd been trying to ignore that fact, thank you very much.

And the rumbles of discontent from his stomach since he hadn't had supper yet.

And he was completely denying the way the room occasionally spun and how Pomfrey's and Dumbledore's faces blurred every once in a while. Severus mustered his last few reserves of energy and squared his shoulders as he raised his chin with stubborn pride. "That doesn't matter. All that matters is that my Mum is safe now."

Pomfrey shot him another look before raising an eyebrow at the Headmaster. "Interesting choice of words, wouldn't you say, Albus?" 

Dumbledore's contemplative gaze had hardly left him ever since Severus had revealed his 'gift', and now was no exception. "I agree, Poppy. I think our potions protégé and l are going to have a nice talk over a late dinner. Is that all right with you, Severus?"

The boy in question wrapped his dignity around him like a protective cloak as he nodded minutely. "That is acceptable." 

"Good," the Healer said emphatically. "You two go do that and I'll finish up with your mother. Do a few healing spells. Get her cleaned up a bit and settled for the night."

"Are you sure you don't need any help?" Severus asked. 

Pomfrey gave him a shooing motion. "No, no. I'm good. Go eat before you pass out and crack your head on the floor or something and I have two patients to deal with. I'm going to keep her asleep till tomorrow anyhow until she's more fully healed." 

"All right," Severus said somewhat reluctantly, part of him not wanting to leave his mother's bedside, no matter how hungry or tired he was. 

"Excellent," Dumbledore beamed, eyes once again twinkling as gaudily as the star covered purple robe he was wearing. "Now that that's settled, let's go to my office." Despite the jovial tone, it wasn't a request.

"Yes, Sir," Severus said, trying not to sound meek while still being respectful. 

Dumbledore turned and swept towards the door of the Hospital Wing, trusting Severus to follow at his heels like a well trained hound. 

With a silent huff of forbearance reinforced by a pang of hunger that said 'pride be damned', he did.

The bossy old wizard surprised him, though, by coming to a halt as soon as the large doors closed behind them. He held out an elbow invitingly. "In the interest of keeping you conscious, would you care to take another ride on the Dumbledore Express instead of traversing half the castle?" 

_Not really,_ was Severus' first thought. But then another occurred to him. "I was under the impression that Apparating on Hogwarts property was impossible because of the wards." _As in, I've tried and I can't._

Dumbledore smiled as if he'd heard the last part too - as unlikely as that was - and wiggled his arm a bit again in invitation. "Ah. But you see, being Headmaster comes with special privileges. One of which being something I would normally Obliviate right out of your memories. But since you've trusted me with one of your secrets then I think it's only fair that I trust you with one of mine." 

Severus stared at the Headmaster in pleasant surprise. "Thank you. I appreciate that." He gingerly touched the sleeve over Dumbledore's forearm and the next moment they were standing in the Headmaster's office with barely a noise to give them away. (If they'd been sneaking, that is.) The vertigo from the sudden displacement that came with side-along Apparition was not as bad as normal either, even with Severus' current state. 

"You're welcome," Dumbledore said matter-of-factly before he indicated that Severus should go sit in a chair by the fireplace while he greeted the magnificent Phoenix that squawked a welcome from his stand near the enormous desk. 

Despite having been to the office a few ( _Ha!_ ) times in the past, Severus was still in awe of the number of books and knick-knacks the the large circular room contained. And he still itched to read and investigate every one. On the other hand, the sleeping portraits of past Headmasters still gave him the willies, feeling as though he was being secretly judged despite their apparent slumbering state. 

As Severus settled into one of the comfortable armchairs, Dumbledore summoned a house-elf by calling out, "Semby."

A second later, a three foot tall being with huge green eyes, long pointed ears, and wearing a Hogwarts tea towel like it was the most fashionable toga was standing in front of Dumbledore. He bowed slightly. "What can Semby do for the kind Headmaster this evening?"

Dumbledore smiled at the elf's eager tone. "A late repast for Mr. Snape, please. He's a bit peaky." 

The elf peered over at Severus and nodded in agreement. "Semby sees. Semby will bring all of Mr. Snape's favourites."

Dumbledore barely had time to say, "Very good," before the elf was gone with his own form of silent Apparition. (The house-elves were also exempt from the anti-Apparition wards so they could do their jobs efficiently.)

Dumbledore took the matching armchair across from Severus and waved his hand at the fireplace, inspiring the banked fire to roar to life with enthusiasm. "That's better. Old bones need more warmth these days." 

Since the explanation didn't really require a response and the only ones he could come up with at the moment were insulting to either the wizard or the ancient, drafty castle, Severus said nothing. 

The coffee table between them suddenly increased in height and a place setting of plate, cutlery, napkin, and already filled goblet appeared in front of Severus. A moment later, the entire table was covered in dishes of food. And just like Semby had said, they contained all of his favourites. 

Severus' chest tightened with emotion to see it. 

"The elves must like you to grant you such service," Dumbledore said, sounding vaguely surprised. 

Flushing slightly, Severus shrugged as he started by serving himself a piece of extra cheesy lasagna with a side of mashed potatoes. "I see them, unlike the rest of the unappreciative dunderheads at this school, and try to thank to them for their work when I can." He then took a bite of potatoes whipped with cream cheese and butter and nearly groaned out loud in happy bliss. 

Dumbledore's look of surprise increased. "You can see through their disillusionment charms?"

Severus swallowed, his fork already full with lasagna. "Yes." 

The Headmaster leaned back in his chair and studied Severus as he stroked his long beard. "Interesting. Very interesting. I'm guessing that skill is attached to your Legilimency talent."

"That is my assumption as well," he said when he politely could without flashing half-masticated food.

"Is there anything else you've been hiding from the rest of the world?"

Severus snorted. "Lots. And most of it is going to stay that way." 

Dumbledore inclined his head slightly. "I understand. We all have our demons best kept hidden. Is there anything else you're actually willing to share with me?"

Severus put his fork down and leveled the older wizard with a serious gaze. "Can I trust you to keep a very important secret? One that I would most likely be killed for if it was found out that I told you?"

Dumbledore's gaze sharpened and matched Severus' level of seriousness as he leaned forward a bit. "Of course. I'd even take an Unbreakable Vow on it." 

"Good. I was hoping you'd say that." Severus shook his wand out of his sleeve with an easy flick of the wrist. 

Dumbledore's gaze landed on the Blackwood wand and widened slightly. "What happened to your old wand?"

Severus scowled. "It was broken." 

Now a bushy white eyebrow went up. "Not by you, I presume?" 

"No." It was only one word, but it contained a world of bitterness.

"I see." 

Severus thought perhaps, based on the sympathy in his eyes, that Dumbledore did. 

"This one suits my better, anyhow."

Dumbledore smiled slightly. "I imagine it does." He held out his hand in a request to inspect it. Severus obliged with a hidden smirk, curious to see how the wand would interact with the other wizard. 

Dumbledore held it for a few seconds, eyes blinking rapidly at whatever he felt, but otherwise not reacting. It was still enough to make Severus smile.

His wand was given back with a chuckle. "The magic in it certainly feels like you; snarky, almost wild, and powerful." 

Severus practically beamed at the compliment. "Thank you." His long fingers caressed his new wand as he basked in the magical connection that only became stronger each time he held it. "Now... For that vow."

"You know how to do a vow without a third?"

"Yes."

They both slid out of their chairs and stood facing each other. Severus held his wand about halfway down the length and then grasped Dumbledore's right wrist. Dumbledore held his wrist in return with the wand between them and then blinked again as Severus felt his wand give the other wizard a mild shock. 

"Definitely wild," Dumbledore muttered, making Severus smirk. 

Severus said the words to start the spell and the tip of his wand produced a small ball of white light against the sleeve of Dumbledore's robe. He met the somewhat shorter man's eyes and said, "Upon your own life, do you vow to keep what I am about to tell and show you a secret you keep only to yourself?"

"Upon my life, I so vow it," Dumbledore said solemnly.

The white light wound around their combined hands and forearms, burning slightly as it sank through their clothes and into their skin until Severus felt the vow settle in his very bones. 

It wasn't comfortable.

They both let go at the same time, shaking the tingles out of their hands with somewhat awkward half-smiles and then sat back down.

Severus picked up his fork again and ate a few more bites while Dumbledore waited patiently. He then drank thirstily from his goblet of spiced pumpkin juice before he was ready to start what was bound to be an interesting conversation. “Before you put up your shields, I heard that you recognized my mother,” he opened with.

Dumbledore inclined his head slightly. “I did. Eileen Prince was once a student here at Hogwarts and despite… maturing a bit, she hasn’t changed that much and still looks a great deal like her younger sister, Elena. I didn’t know you were her son, but I should have guessed it. You have the same colouring, elegant bearing, and lean build.”

Severus almost laughed at how that description almost made him sound like an attractive person. _Just add my overly large nose, annoying hair, and scrawny arse to the mix and it's a little more accurate._

He pushed the self-deprecating thought aside and continued with the current conversation. “Then you know that I’m related to the Malfoys by marriage.”

“I did come to that belated conclusion, yes. Your friendship with Lucius Malfoy makes a great deal more sense now, considering the age difference; I rarely see Sixth Years befriend First Years.”

Since Dumbledore wasn’t wrong on that fact (First Years were lucky if the older students even acknowledged their existence at anything but formal situations like the Sorting ceremony), Severus merely shrugged slightly. “We randomly figured out that we were cousins when I reminded Lucius of his mother.” He paused and winced mentally. _That sounded bad._ “Not in a girly way, of course.”

Dumbledore was twinkling at him again, curse him. “Of course not. I’m sure it had something to do with your rare black hair and eyes with that particular skin tone.”

Severus snorted. “You mean my pale as death skin tone.”

“If you want to put it that way… yes.”

Severus was positive Dumbledore was laughing like mad behind his shielded, sympathetic eyes.

_Quite an accomplishment, actually, to express emotion without showing what’s actually taking place on the inside._

_My Occlumency clearly can be improved upon._

“Anyway, back on topic.”

“Of course.”

“I’m sure you also know where the Malfoys’ sympathies lie in this escalating war between the Dark Lord and the more mundane of the Wizarding World.”

All sense of humour from Dumbledore disappeared instantly. “I am aware, yes.”

“Then it shouldn’t be much of a stretch for you to come to a conclusion as to my own loyalties.”

Dumbledore sighed. “In the same place most of your House lies; I had already assumed as much.”

Severus unbuttoned the left cuff on his dress shirt and pushed his sleeves up to his elbow, then turned his wrist over to display the angry red flesh surrounding the brand new Dark mark. “That is true enough, but I’m fairly certain I’m the only student that has one of these.”

Dumbledore sucked in a breath as he stared at the intertwined skull and snake tattoo. “Oh dear. That does complicate things.”

Severus scoffed. “That’s putting it mildly.” He pushed his sleeves back down quickly, feeling as though the snake could spy on him if it was open to the air, and did up the buttons on his cuff again.

“Why would you show me this?” Dumbledore asked, still sounding concerned. “It’s no secret that I don’t condone Voldemort’s actions.”

Severus envied the easy way the older wizard disrespected his new Lord’s name. He would never dare such a thing. Especially not now with Lord Voldemort’s brand embedded in his skin. 

He laughed darkly. “Oh, I know. I’ve heard many times at the Malfoys’ dinner table how much the Dark Lord despises you for not joining his merry band of the Wizarding World’s elite. The support of your family would be a coup for him.”

“He’ll never get it,” Dumbledore all but snarled, showing the most untwinkle-like expression Severus had ever seen on his usually good-natured face.

“Good. I’m counting on that.”

An eyebrow went up. “Why?”

“Because of what I just spent my evening doing,” Severus said grimly.

“I’m afraid to ask, but what was that?”

Severus inhaled deeply and then said as emotionlessly as he could manage, “Ensuring that no one, including my own mother, remembers that I’m a half-blood Prince so that my new Master can claim me as one of his loyal servants without going against his own policies.”

“Bloody hell,” Dumbledore breathed, shaking his head. “He just made you give up your entire family. Including the Malfoys.”

“Yes.” The word came out stone cold and more growl than anything, 

“And that’s where he made his mistake.” It wasn’t a question and Dumbledore’s eyes were sharper than Severus had ever seen them even as barely suppressed magic fairly crackled around the man, showing just how he’d become one of the most powerful and respected wizards in Britain and possibly the entire world.

Severus smiled coldly, pleased that his gamble was paying off. “Yes. Because I’m fairly certain that I won’t be able to make you forget who my mother was, and thus who I am."

Dumbledore's mouth quirked at the corner. "You're right about that. I'd have to be more than half dead for an _Obliviate_ to work on me, no matter how powerful the caster."

Severus laughed once. "That's what I thought. Which means that for my new identity to work, I need you to keep my secret.”

Dumbledore inclined his head in acknowledgement, blue eyes twinkling again with wry humour. “I don’t have much of a choice now, but yes, I’ll keep your secret.”

“Which is why you’re still breathing,” Severus said jokingly, but still almost entirely serious. “And I’m not talking about just the vow, either.”

Dumbledore smirked at him. “Well... You could try, anyway. Even if every single one of your Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers have mentioned that you know more than they do and that you frankly terrify them on occasion.”

Severus smirked back, not offended that Dumbledore didn't think he could do him any real damage - it was probably true; Dumbledore was famous for besting Grindelwald in the most epic duel of all time, after all. “Only on occasion? I haven’t been trying hard enough, apparently.”

This made Dumbledore laugh outright. “You are a cheeky one, aren’t you?”

“The few people who actually know me think so,” Severus replied, grinning. But then it fell as he remembered that he wasn’t sure he’d be able to count his Aunt Elena, Lucius, and Cissa in their number after tonight’s Obliviation fest.

_Maybe tomorrow I’ll Apparate to the Manor and find out._

“I have a proposition for you,” Dumbledore said, drawing Severus out of his melancholy thoughts.

Severus blinked at the old wizard across the table. “You do?”

“I do.” Dumbledore leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table and lacing his fingers together to form a bridge. His eyes were very serious again and he even partially dropped his Occlumency shields so that Severus could see that what he was about to say was very important to him. “Just this evening, I was talking with my brother about starting a secret group to fight the Death Eaters and counteract what we can of Voldemort’s damage. I’d like you to spy for me. You’re in the perfect position to do it and I think you wouldn’t have told me your secret at all if you weren’t opposed to an outcome of this nature.”

“You’re right,” Severus said, copying Dumbledore’s position over his half-eaten plate of dinner. “I didn’t expect you to keep my secret without getting something in return. I’ll spy for you because I have never liked the way the Dark Lord has some of his younger recruits trapped into serving him; like Lucius and Narcissa. Nor did I appreciate the way I was given little choice as to whether or not I wanted to become a Death Eater. Yes, it was all steeped in the façade of an honourable privilege and that I was being freed from a horrid home-life in exchange, but I was also given the impression that if I turned him down, I wouldn’t survive to see tomorrow.”

“That sounds like coercion to me,” Dumbledore agreed. “I know you’re technically an adult now, but you’re still a student in my school for another half year, which means that it’s my job to protect you. Unfortunately, I’m also going to have to ignore those instincts and throw you and other talented students of your age group under the proverbial Knight Bus if I’m going to build a successful army against Voldemort.”

Severus shrugged and picked up his fork again. “Do it. I can take care of myself. Any other students you recruit will undoubtedly be from Gryffindor, and they can all go down in self-righteous flames of glory for all I care.”

Dumbledore snorted. “Your compassion for your fellow students is admirable, it truly is.”

Severus showed off his somewhat crooked teeth as he speared more potatoes. “And your sarcasm is just as false as your blasted eye twinkle.”

Dumbledore guffawed. “Touché, Mr. Snape. Touché.”

Severus swallowed his bite of still warm food, thanks to magic, and pointed his fork at Dumbledore. “There’s just one thing about your proposition.”

“And what is that?”

“I need you to teach me better Occlumency shields. My new Master ripped through my self-taught ones in about two seconds flat and nearly split my head open in the process. I can’t go anywhere near him again until I have better defences up or I’ll be toast and you’ll be out a handy spy.”

Dumbledore stared at him for all of two blinks and then nodded. “Done. Lessons start tomorrow morning after you've had a proper rest.” Then he glanced pointedly at the feast spread out over his coffee table. “Now eat your dinner before the house-elves think you don’t like what they’ve prepared and it disappears.”

* * *

**A/N: You probably noticed that I've taken liberties with the Unbreakable Vow and made up the Healer Apprenticeship program at St. Mungo's; inventing stuff for stories is unavoidable sometimes. (And fun.) :D**


	3. An Unexpected Guest

**An Unexpected Guest:**

Severus was working on his second slice of delicious cherry pie (his favorite kind) when Fawkes suddenly squawked in alarm and flew over to perch on Dumbledore’s shoulder. Both wizards looked over at the phoenix’s stand.

The tall, gold perch was shuddering and flickering in and out of existence. It also appeared to be changing shape to look more like an hour glass.

“Fucking hell. Is it supposed to do that?” Severus whispered after hastily swallowing the bite of pie that had temporarily been frozen in mid-chew.

“Ummmmm.” Seeming reluctant to answer, Dumbledore hastily rose to his feet and hurried over to the vicinity of his desk. Dropping his fork, Severus was only a step behind him.

The teenaged wizard arrived near the stand just in time catch the girl who suddenly appeared, her hand clinging to the bird stand that was definitely not a stand now but a huge time-turner. Her gaze landed on Dumbledore, since she was facing the elder wizard, and she smiled faintly, swaying on her feet and looking pale as death. “Oh good, it worked,” she mumbled. And then her rich chocolate eyes rolled up and she collapsed.

Severus lunged forward and caught her awkwardly under the armpits before she could hit the ground, and then he made some hasty readjustments to pick her up in his arms, suddenly feeling anything but tired.

The fascinated teenager gawked at the young witch he was cradling to his chest with unbelieving eyes. For not only had she appeared out of nowhere – apparently from the future, if the unfamiliar style of her clothes under her open black robe was anything to go by – but she was also very beautiful and almost perfectly fit the description of the fantasy girl he’d imagined up for himself not too much more than an hour ago.

Her thick golden brown hair was curly, unruly, and barely tamed into a long braid. She was slender to the point of too much so, much like he was, but worse. Thanks to the poverty-stricken life of many that lived in his hometown of Cokeworth, he knew the gaunt look of someone half starved too well, so he assumed she was under her normal weight. She was also only a few inches shy of being a foot shorter than himself, so he felt like he was holding a porcelain doll in his arms.

The impression of breakable porcelain was enforced by the delicate vibrancy of her pale skin, so fine on her closed eyelids, he could see the faint tracery of blue veins within. There were also shadows under her eyes that spoke of an exhaustion he was more than familiar with, too often caught up in brewing or his studies to get even a decent amount of sleep.

Aside from looking overworked and underfed, she was definitely stunning to look at. She had a heart-shaped face with a widow’s peak hairline. Fine and sweeping eyebrows. Long, thick lashes that whispered over high cheekbones. A thin and refined nose that was easily half the size of his or less. Cute little ears. Pretty bow-shaped pink lips. And a pointed jaw that he had a feeling was often set at a stubborn tilt.

Severus could look at her forever.

But that wasn't to be in this moment, because Dumbledore cleared his throat pointedly.

The boy’s gaze shot up, heat flooding his cheeks. _How long have I been staring at her like a dunderhead?_

Dumbledore’s gaze was both amused and concerned as he encouraged Fawkes to resettle on his perch, which looked like a normal – if ornate - bird stand again. “If you’re done gawking at our unexpected guest, perhaps we should take her to the infirmary? She looks a bit peaky to me.”

Peaky was an understatement, considering she’d just fainted, but Severus only nodded his agreement.

Dumbledore touched Severus on the shoulder and they were whisked back to the corridor in front of the hospital wing. The Headmaster pushed open the large double doors and Severus followed in the wake of his flowing, sparkly robes, carrying the mystery girl with gentle and careful arms. (He could feel too many bones through her clothes and he didn't like it. He wanted to provide food and replenishing potions for her so badly, it nearly hurt.) 

“Poppy, we have another patient for you,” Dumbledore said as they approached the Mediwitch who was still hovering over Eileen Snape, tucking her in nice thick blankets to ward off the chill of the castle.

Madam Pomfrey looked up, blue eyes widening as she spotted the girl in Severus’ arms. She hurried over. “Good heavens, wherever did you find this one? She’s not a student here.”

Dumbledore and Severus glanced at each other. _She’s definitely not that. At least, not from this time period._ They both had the same thought, and smiled faintly at reading it in each other’s eyes.

As the healer waved an arm at the bed beside his mother, indicating that Severus should put the girl there, Dumbledore replied with a clever cover story that Severus hoped actually occurred. “No she’s not. At least not yet. She just arrived, in poor shape, as you can see. I believe she’ll be spending the holidays and the rest of the school year with us in a special studies program.”

“Oh, that’s nice,” Pomfrey murmured distractedly, since she was already casting diagnostic spells on the girl that Severus had somewhat reluctantly laid on the bed.

The spell started spitting out stats in glowing runes floating above the girl. Severus blinked at the first one that said she was biologically only a month and a few days shy of nineteen years old. Which technically made her just a hair too old to be a Seventh Year, but maybe they could say she’d missed a year of school for some reason, thus the special program. _I didn’t think she was older than me. Oh well. I’ll be eighteen soon. Not that big an age difference._

Pomfrey tutted with a shake of her head as she waved her wand and called over a few potions to settle on the table beside her bed. “Extremely undernourished with several vitamin deficiencies and exhausted, poor thing. But nothing else serious, and we’ll fix that right enough as soon as she wakes up. She’s only just fainted, so I’ll let her sleep until she wants to wake.”

“I can stay with her and give her the potions when she does,” Severus volunteered quickly. “I wanted to stay by my Mum anyway,” he added when both adults looked at him with knowing eyes. (His awestruck and fascinated expression when he looked at the girl apparently hadn’t been particularly subtle.)

The Mediwitch glanced at Dumbledore for his approval before she huffed a sigh and said, “Fine. But you’re sleeping on a bed too in the meantime, not propped up in a chair.” And with that, the girl’s bed was quickly pushed over with a flick of her wand and one from across the room was summoned over and placed between his mother and the girl with a respectable arm span's worth of space between each.

Severus honestly couldn’t say no to that. It had been a terribly long day after all and it was now pushing two o'clock in the morning. “Thank you, Madam Pomfrey. I will do that.”

She nodded once, wearing an indulgent hint of a smile under her stern façade. “Good. I’ll be back in a couple hours to check on both patients. If they’re both still asleep, I expect you to be so as well.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied with a cheeky grin as he toed off his boots and sat on the bed dutifully. (Facing the girl, of course. No offence meant to his mother, but he was a teenage boy and there was no escaping his natural urges.)

Pomfrey huffed one more time and then left the hospital wing to go back to sleep for a bit, muttering under her breath about boys never staying where they were supposed to.

She wasn’t wrong.

But that wasn’t the most pressing concern of the moment.

Dumbledore and the mystery girl were.

As soon as the door closed behind the Mediwitch, Dumbledore was at the girl’s bedside and pulling out his wand and starting to murmur a waking spell.

Alarmed, Severus jumped back to his feet. “Hey!” he interrupted. “What was the point of bringing her here first if you were just going to wake her up right away?!”

The Headmaster grimaced, rightfully, and explained. “I wanted to make sure she wasn’t at death’s door or something, but since she’s not, I think it more prudent that we find out how and why she used my very secret time-turner to get to this time. She also needs to know and corroborate the story I gave Poppy before our healer sees her again. She can sleep and recover after that.”

Finding Dumbledore’s reasoning sound, Severus nodded his acceptance. (As if he had the right to dictate what the older wizard did to the girl.) “Fine. You may proceed.”

Amused again, Dumbledore rolled his eyes at Severus and then woke the girl up.

* * *

Hermione Granger opened her eyes to the familiar sight of the arched and ornate hospital wing ceiling that she was much too well acquainted with and quite tired of seeing so frequently, as beautiful as it was.

She drew a blank as to why she was here this time, though.

Wracking her mind, she called on her most recent memories and blinked when the first thing that came to mind was being kissed by Draco Malfoy. _Ummmmmmmm. Why?_

_Oh, because I was…_

Gasping, she swiftly sat up, her eyes darting to a somewhat younger Dumbledore than she remembered him looking, but passed that off as faulty memory. Hermione gave a half sob as she launched herself at the Headmaster, never so happy to see someone alive in her life. (Okay, there were a few times with Harry and Ron that were just as, if not more, emotional, but still…)

Dumbledore thankfully caught her as she clung to the front of his robes and looked up at his startled blue eyes as she started babbling madly. “Oh, thank Merlin your time-turner worked! We don’t have much time. I think I only gave us a couple days to plan, but I’m not sure how accurate I was with my timing, having never practiced with this particular turner before. Which means I need to tell you what happened so that we can stop Voldemort before he comes back!”

Dumbledore held her by the shoulders and pushed her back down onto the bed gently so she was kneeling on her own. “Easy. Slow down. How about we start with who you are?”

Hermione settled onto her heels and blinked at the Headmaster. “What do you mean who I am? Don’t you know me?”

Dumbledore shook his head regretfully. “No, child. I’m afraid I don’t.”

_What? Why not? What went wrong? I didn’t switch to a different dimension or something, did I?_

“And what do you mean by ‘before Voldemort comes back’?” a familiar but slightly different voice that she’d heard lecturing her thousands of times said from behind her.

Gasping, Hermione whipped her head around to look behind her, falling on her arse in the process, and then just gawked.

And gawked some more.

Mouth probably hanging open unattractively and everything.

“Professor Snape?” she asked tentatively.

Very tentatively. Because the person in front of her was as a tall as what she remembered and also possessed the same obsidian eyes and the same shoulder length black hair. But that was where the resemblance ended. This wizard wasn’t a man worn down by years of war and teaching imbeciles determined to blow themselves up, but a boy, no older than herself, and possibly even younger.

From what she could see through his fine robe and waistcoat, his lanky body only held the promise of his older self’s broad shouldered and lean but fit form. (Not counting the last time she’d seen him before he’d died and looked like he hadn’t eaten or slept in months.) His face was unlined by years of stress and narrower, making his aquiline nose look even larger, but despite that, there was still an elegance to his features and bearing that spoke of good breeding if one cared to look. Even as a teenager, Severus Snape would never be called conventionally handsome, but Hermione found this version of her favourite professor utterly fascinating.

For his part, Snape looked temporarily confused at being called ‘professor’. He glanced past her to Dumbledore, mouthing the word. Hermione looked back at the Headmaster in time to see him shrug.

She looked back at Snape as realization dawned. She gasped. “I’ve gone back too far!” Looking at someone who should be in his mid thirties if she’d done this right, she added, “Years and years too far!” Burying her face in her hands, Hermione cried, “Merlin help me. I’ve done it all wrong!”

* * *

_Well, that explains that,_ Severus thought with a mental grimace at the image of what he had no doubt was his older self flashed through her mind and into his. (It wasn’t pretty, but the wizard in billowing black robes had gravitas at least.) _She knew me when I was older. Probably much older. And a Professor here, apparently._

_That is NOT what I envisioned for my future. Why in hell would I want to teach sniveling morons? Going to school with them for seven years was torture enough._

_Undoubtedly my new Lord has something to do with it. Spying on Dumbledore, most likely._

_And fuck, if she knew me when I’m that much older, and I’m still under Voldemort’s control, then my life is going to suck balls, isn’t it._

His attention was quickly drawn back to the girl as she lamented an apparently large error in calculations. Glancing at Dumbledore, he found the Headmaster frowning down at the top of her head as thoughts and theories flashed through the older wizard’s mind at the speed of light, too quickly to catch any of them but vague impressions. Even still, Severus was impressed by the other man’s intelligence, more so than he’d been so far in the six and a half years he’d known him. (That twinkling, grandfather act really was as deceiving as it was annoying.)

Since Dumbledore appeared to be thinking about her words more than reacting to them, Severus took it upon himself to get more answers that would save him from making any erroneous guesses.

Climbing onto her bed, he sat down cross-legged in front of her, which caught her attention right away. Her shining chocolate eyes were also filled with thoughts flying through her mind too fast to catch fully formed and understand, so he had to resort to asking actual questions.

 _Which isn’t a hardship, actually, now that I think about it. She’s certainly nice to look at. And she smells really good, like vanilla shampoo, lavender soap, and that girl smell that is all natural and so enticing_.

“Hey,” he said, conversationally, trying a smile.

His heart increased in rhythm when she smiled back, shifting to copy his pose as well. “Hey.”

Severus tilted his head slightly. “Sooooo, you have us at a disadvantage. You know us but we don’t know you.”

Her cheeks flushed instantly in a sudden attack of mortification as her eyes widened and she glanced up at Dumbledore, who was now failing at hiding a smile behind his hand. “Oh! I’m sorry!” Smiling ruefully, she held her hand out for shaking. “My apologies for getting this all wrong, but my name is Hermione Granger and I’m from 1998 and I was supposed to be going back in time to stop Voldemort from destroying everything.”

Severus stared down at the elegant little hand tipped in blunt nails, not sure what to be the most shocked about.

The fact that she thought she could actually stop Voldemort. _Fucking ha._

The fact that she was from twenty years in the future. _Which makes her fainting perfectly understandable. That's quite a trip._

Or the fact that she’d just revealed herself to be a muggle-born or, at best, a half-blood like himself, because only someone who’d been raised by people without magic ever thought to shake hands in greeting. Pure-bloods would never lower themselves to do such a muggle thing. _Pompous shitheads that they are._

With those three little pieces of information, Severus knew he’d either have to permanently forget he’d ever met her, or he’d have to build the best fucking Occlumency shields wizardkind had ever seen. Because if Voldemort found out about her, she would be dead within the hour.

Swallowing hard, Severus looked up at Dumbledore and found those blue eyes looking back at him with a steely resolve that belied his current persona, making Severus believe that this actually was the wizard that had defeated Grindelwald. Dumbledore let Severus see his thoughts, practically projecting them into his mind. _“She must know things that will make the difference between winning and losing. I’ll help you build your shields. You will befriend her and earn her trust. Voldemort is NOT going to win.”_

Severus nodded slightly, thinking to himself, _All right. I guess it was all a matter of life and death anyway. Might as well spend time with a pretty girl while I’m at it._

Looking back at Hermione _(And isn’t that an interesting name. Messenger indeed.)_ , he found her still holding her hand out, but one eyebrow had risen as she waited for him to respond. Severus took her hand and shook it with a gentle but strong grip, letting her feel his commitment to her cause. “Severus Snape, as you must already know. You’ve arrived at the end of 1977, and I’ll do everything in my power to help you defeat my Dark Lord.”


	4. An Unorthodox Explanation

**An Unorthodox Explanation:**

Hermione took a moment to absorb the disturbing confirmation of just how far back in the past she’d managed to travel, and then her brain latched on Professor… Just Snape’s last words. She made no move to pull her hand away from his – the contact wasn’t unpleasant in the slightest, a corner of her brain noted – as horror and sympathy took over from the shock. “You said my, not the.”

Severus Snape, as quick of mind as anyone she’d ever met, understood immediately. He squeezed her hand slightly and then let her go, nodding once. “I did,” he rumbled in that (almost there) buttery smooth deep voice that had helped make his lectures so enjoyable. “The Dark Lord is my Master now.”

She flicked her gaze at Dumbledore and found him not in the least surprised about this, which meant that he'd already recruited Severus back to the side of the right and good. _A double agent already, and so young still. No wonder he looked so worn out and miserable all the time._

_…Except for the times he was lording it over us as if he was reading our minds like one of those super rare natural Legilimens I read about and knew exactly just how much trouble the students were getting into all the time. It was frankly uncanny._

_But still…_ “I’m sorry,” she told Snape... Severus… Snape… _What in Merlin’s name am I supposed to call him in my head now?!_ “I wish I’d gotten here even sooner so that I could have spared you that.”

The black haired boy raised his eyebrows in surprise and then shrugged his narrowish shoulders. (He still had a lot of filling out to do to match what she knew he could look like.) “I doubt that. My path was set long ago. And even if you had arrived before I was ‘invited’ to take the Dark Mark, I have a feeling I would still have ended up with it and still been a ‘double agent’ as you so concisely put it. Having someone on the inside of the snake den is more than likely a critical step, no matter how you look at it.” He flashed her a rueful smile and then added, “And I would be very happy to hear you call me Severus in your head. Snape is not a name I am overly fond of.”

Hermione nearly swallowed her tongue in shock. “What… What did you say?”

Severus grinned at her, all white – if somewhat uneven – teeth. “Come now, Hermione. You don’t actually need me to repeat myself, do you? I was under the impression that you were quite intelligent and had already figured me out.”

Somehow, she wasn’t sure how, but she pulled her pride to the forefront and used it to push back the incredulity of what had just happened. _(He actually is a natural Legilimens!)_ “Of course I am. Before I was obliged to leave school to go on an extended and thoroughly horrid horcrux hunt, I had the best marks in Hogwarts since, well, you.”

Dumbledore made a slight choking sound, but she didn’t bother to look at him. Severus was much more fascinating. _(I think I like calling him Severus. Feels kind of naughty somehow.) (Should I be shielding my thoughts?) (Nah. I’m curious to see what all he picks up on. And this might make the explanation process faster.)_ Her former professor, now decidedly younger and much less adept at keeping his emotions hidden behind a façade of disdain and general surliness, was looking back at her with a fascinating mixture of shock, amusement, and what might even be the beginnings of puppy love. _(Which I really don’t seem to mind at all. Interesting. Very interesting.)_

“Did you say horcrux?”

Hermione reluctantly abandoned the bottomless pools of Severus’ ebony eyes to glance at Dumbledore again. “Yes.”

The elder wizard frowned deeply. “I was afraid he’d do something like that. Riddle was never one to be swayed by common human decency in his quest for unlimited power.”

“Riddle, as in the Tom Riddle more commonly known as Lord Voldemort who must have decided to change his name to something much more grandiose?” Severus asked.

“The very same,” Dumbledore explained with a wry grimace. “He used to be a student here.”

“Of course,” Severus muttered. “Why did I just assume that he’d been sprouted from a dark forest somewhere like a poisonous mushroom?”

Since the question seemed redundant, neither Hermione nor Dumbledore bothered to answer, even if the assumption had some merit. Instead, Dumbledore turned a very non-twinkling look on her, reminding her of the more solemn air he’d worn during her sixth year. “How many horcruxes did you hunt down? Two?”

She shook her head.

“Three?”

Hermione shook her head again, sympathizing with the hint of alarm the Headmaster let slip. “No. There were seven in total in the end.”

“Seven!” Dumbledore wheezed, as if the number had knocked the air right out of him. Knowing what it took to make a horcrux, Hermione thought maybe it had.

“What IS a horcrux?” Severus demanded, drawing her attention. “I’ve only seen it referenced once in ‘Magic Moste Evile’ and couldn’t find anything else about it in the library here or even at the Malfoy’s, who have a much better collection of Dark Magic books.”

Dumbledore raised a bushy grey eyebrow at Severus’ roundabout confession to researching Dark magic, but apparently chose not to chastise him on it. He studied the boy for a few seconds with intense blue eyes and then said, “I suppose if you’re going to be a pivotal part of our campaign to take down the Dark Lord, you might as well know.” He paused to inhale, as if fortifying himself. “A horcrux is a container for a piece of your soul, thus making you immortal if you die, since a piece of your soul will live on.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad,” Severus said, the light of interest making his expression bright.

Hermione snorted quietly as Dumbledore made a similar expression of disgust. “It is when you have to murder someone to accomplish the split, and you lose a piece of your humanity when you do.”

Severus opened his mouth and then closed it with a snap. “I see. Not a good thing then.”

“Definitely not.” Dumbledore turned his attention back to Hermione. “Could you find them again?”

“If they haven’t changed locations between now and then, undoubtedly,” Hermione said with a healthy dose of bravado she didn’t necessarily feel. “Although, getting them isn’t going to be easy.”

“I’d be surprised if it was,” Dumbledore said dryly.

“With the exception of one, which I know was created in 1981, I don’t know how many are actually present in this time.” Looking from Severus to Dumbledore and back again, she asked, “Does the Dark Lord have a giant pet snake yet called Nagini?”

Dumbledore’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline. Severus’ eyes widened and then he shook his head slowly. “Not that I’ve ever heard of. And I’m pretty sure that’s something Lucius would have mentioned.”

Hermione blinked at the reminder that Severus must be good friends with the Malfoys, especially if he ended up as the godfather of Draco. She quickly buried the crumbs of her past intense ‘dislike’ for Lucius Malfoy at the back of her mind, not wanting to offend Severus if she could help it. “That’s good then. That means we only need to find and destroy five of them.” She paused to huff, rubbing her hands on her thighs to help chase off the sudden chill. “Can’t believe I’m going to be doing this all over again, even if I do know that it’s probably better this way. Stopping Voldemort sooner, that is. But this definitely wasn’t what I had planned for.” She narrowed her eyes at Dumbledore slightly. “Perhaps you could explain how your time-turner deposited me so many years further back than I intended to go?”

Dumbledore coughed in amused surprise. “Ah. Well. That would be because that particular one isn’t actually a time-turner, per se.”

“It’s not?”

“No. It’s actually a relic of this castle and just as intelligent. It works very much like the Room of Requirement – which is where I found it, by the way - where you only have to think what you want and the castle will provide it, but unlike the Room, the ‘turner’ has a bit of a sense of humour and isn’t particularly reliable. For example, I once asked it to take me back to a time before I had made any of my worst mistakes so I could fix them and the blasted thing dropped me off in 1892 just as my eleven year old self was about to blow up the potions classroom with my first ill-fated ‘experiment’. Professor Spritz actually fainted at my appearance and I ended up teaching the class.”

“Did you get back to your time?”

“Did you end up staying?”

Hermione and Severus flashed grins at each other when they ended up asking pretty much the same question at the same time.

Dumbledore chuckled. “No, I never did get back to my proper time the quick way. Since I had no way to ensure that the ‘turner’ would take me back to the correct time, I didn’t bother to try and find it in the Room of Hidden Things again. Put an extra fifteen years on my life but no one really noticed.”

“So you stayed at Hogwarts and taught yourself?” Hermione asked incredulously.

“Ha ha. No.” The grey haired wizard had his twinkle back. “I spent the first seven years wandering around Britain and Europe in search of new and interesting forms of magic and then once my younger self finished school, shadowing him and keeping my foolish arse alive from the sidelines. I used to think I had incredible luck, but it turned out to be only myself the whole time.”

Hermione shook her head, smiling wistfully as she leaned back on her hands. “My best friends and I had an adventure with a time-turner just like that; ourselves saving ourselves. But it only lasted for one night and that was quite long enough.”

“I imagine so,” Dumbledore sympathized. Holding out a hand, he summoned a chair from the bedside of another cot and sat down in it facing her, his expression all serious and solemn again. She sat up properly in response, sensing that she probably wasn’t going to like what he was about to say. (She was right.) “Miss Granger, I know this would be a tremendous invasion of your mind, but would you be willing for me to use Legilimency to see everything you know about Voldemort? It would save a great deal of time and explanations.”

As much as she cringed at the idea of having Dumbledore – or anyone – digging around in her mind, Hermione could see the benefits of what he suggested. “All right. But I will show you what you need to know, everything else, my private life, will stay behind my shields and you will not try and go past them.”

“Understood,” Dumbledore nodded. “I wouldn’t anyhow. You know Occlumency? Not something usually taught at Hogwarts.”

“I do. You taught me, in fact.” Hermione smiled wistfully. “As you will say in the future, ‘Times are dire right now, Miss Granger, and I fear that I cannot be there to help you in your tasks, but I can prepare you as best as I can for whatever you may face.’ We had many private lessons where you taught me Occlumency, stronger defensive and protective magic, and anything else you could think of that would help my friends and I survive while on the run. I never get the chance to tell you this in the future, but your lessons saved our lives countless times, so thank you.”

Dumbledore returned her sad smile, reaching forward to pat her hand for a moment and then withdrawing again. “I’m sorry that I must have failed in this time period to give you the normal life you should have had in the future, but perhaps we can change what you lived through to something much more pleasant this time around.”

“That would be nice. Really, really nice. The me who isn’t born yet will hopefully appreciate it.” Hermione turned her focus back to Severus, who had been listening quietly with a concerned expression on his face. “I think you should join in as well. I know you’re a Master Legilimens, apparently even without a wand, and I don’t see any reason for you to not know what you’ll be up against.”

* * *

Severus was floored by her offer, by how much trust she was putting him and Dumbledore both. This girl had already proved to him more than once that she was willing to do whatever it took to bring down Voldemort, so he could do no less. Even if that meant going against pretty much everything he’d been taught to believe. 

_I might even end up having to fight the Malfoys, my own family._

_Which Voldemort already took away from me._

_But if I can eliminate the Dark Lord, then I can have my family back._

He set his chin at a determined angle and nodded to the girl. “I would appreciate that very much, thank you.”

“Good,” Hermione nodded back, their eyes locking for a moment as they shared their resolve to rid the world of one extremely powerful sociopathic dictator. Then she pulled out a pale cream coloured vine wood wand from the pocket of her robe and pointed it at another chair so that it zoomed over and parked itself right beside Dumbledore’s. “Now sit there and do your thing.”

Hiding a smile at her bossiness, which he found adorable, Severus scrambled off her cot – his long limbs feeling ridiculously uncooperative under her gaze - and did as he was told. While he moved, so did Hermione, so that she was now sitting cross-legged right in front of the two chairs on the edge of the bed.

She closed her eyes for a few seconds, presumably thinking about what she wanted to show them and building her shields around what she didn’t. When she opened them, the firewhisky depths of her gaze met his and flicked to Dumbledore. His breath caught at how fiercely beautiful she looked in that moment, and he suddenly understood how Dumbledore’s future self had chosen this girl to ensure the safety of her world. _She’s like an avenging goddess._ “I’m ready,” she said.

Dumbledore already had his wand out. He glanced at Severus to confirm that their timing would be the same, and then the older wizard pointed his knobby wand at her head and said firmly, “Legilimens!”

Severus mentally dove into Hermione’s mind at the same time and found himself in an entirely new world where only Hogwarts itself looked the same.

* * *

**A/N: So I have some news.**

**I'm now unemployed. Because I've moved. I have another job lined up, but it doesn't start until April at the earliest, which means I'll have lots and lots of time to write for you guys. That's the good news. The bad news is that after cleaning stalls and taking care of horses for 26 years, I feel it's time to try and do something a little more meaningful with my life before I kick the bucket and my headstone says, 'Here Lies the World’s Best Stall Cleaner'.**

**What I really want to be is a full-time writer. I'd prefer to just write fanfics for you all, but it's already been proven to me that that just isn't possible. So I've started the process of converting as many of my stories as I can into original works and have set up a website where you all can continue reading your favourite stories in a somewhat different version for a small fee. (50 cents a chapter or $5 for an entire finished story is what I'm currently thinking. Anyone agree with me that this sounds fair?)**

**I’ll also continue picking away at the fanfics that I can’t convert because they’re just too strongly based on canon, but probably not as often as you’re used to. (Which is already months between updates because of how many stories I have, lol.)**

**If there's anyone out there who'd prefer that I write your fanfics full-time as they are instead, well... you know what to do. And if you don't, pm me. My Facebook page, TheLoneRebel’s Stories, will have updates and new information as it becomes available.**


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